Change of Plans

I felt heartbroken as I was laying my daughter down for bed last night and she was sharing with me that she did not have a good day because nothing went as planned. Every night we share together our favorite part of the day and our worst part of the day. We began our day excited about the plans and by 10:00 everything had changed due to problems. The day continued in that way. My heart was not broken because she had a bad day from the plan changes, rather because I know that this will happen over and over in her life. I know that plans will get rained on and dreams will get pushed aside for the burdens of everyday living. I also know that when it rains, it pours and that is how our last week has gone around here. In one day last week, it seemed like everything around me crumbled!
The hope we have, when times are crummy, is that God is faithful. So I leaned over my daughter and asked her what I always ask her after she shares her best and worst parts of the day, "How did that make you feel?" Obviously, the answer was sad. Then I asked her what always follows, "What could we have done or what should we do?" She thought and told me she did not think there was anything we could have done. I smiled and told her what I am going to tell you. When things are out of our hands, we should be thankful that we have a God who knows a whole lot more than we do. For whatever reason, He had something different planned for us than what we did. Since God knows everything and loves us so much, we can trust that His plans are better, even if we don't know why.

As most conversations with my kids do, this one left me thinking long after and applying my own medicine to my wounds. My week may have not been very good, but I can trust that God is caring for me. For whatever reason, he is allowing these things to happen and I need to trust in his all-knowing power. God is so good to us! All of us! We just need to push aside our worries and focus on our blessings!

As I close today, I would like to remind you (and me!) of the psalm which inspired this blog, psalm 23. In verse 4, David shares that things are not going so great for him, but that he will trust in God anyway, without worry or fear. Then verse 5 reveals how God blesses him for following where He leads, how he refills his cup. Let God refill your cup today!

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

The General Idea...I Guess!



...my cup overflows. --Ps. 23:5



Not Be Tired by Waiting

This week we are discussing Rudyard Kipling's poem If and how we can apply it to our lives!  Today I want to focus on one line of his poem:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Waiting on God can be one of the most exhausting times in our life.  It is during these times of waiting that we truly need Christ to fill our cup.  Yet if we can have the right understanding of our situation, we will see that there is purpose in our waiting.  Oswald Chambers shares with us in My Utmost for His Highest,

When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don't fill it with busyness, just wait.  The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification - to be set apart from sin and made holy - or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. (January 4)

I can recall during one particular time of waiting in my life, I felt broken and abandoned.  I cried out to God daily to reach down and break open the flood gates that were holding back that living flow from Him that I so desperately needed! Looking back I can see the wonders of what He was doing in my life and in my husband's.  He was trying us by fire, so to speak.  It was our time of wandering in the desert so that His Spirit could sanctify us and prepare us for the work He had for us.  What followed?  We entered into youth ministry.

God has so many blessings stored up for you, but like any good parent, He will give them to you when the time is right and only He knows when that is.  He may have plans for you that are bigger than anything you can conceive right now.  He may have an opportunity for you through someone that you haven't even met yet!  If you are single, He may just be preparing you for that "special person" so that your future marriage can be strong and united in Him!  There are so many reasons why God may be silent right now. Yet in His Word, He gives us direction and hope for times like these:

He says, "Be still and know that I am God;" -Psalm 46:10

and

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me; -Psalm 23:4

Wait patiently today, friend.  God will never abandon you or leave you alone.

Don't Run Dry

I want to start this blog to be an encouragement to moms out there like me who are wearing 50 hats in one day, trying to juggle it all and...well, running dry.  God has so much more planned for us than to be worn out, burnt out, and a constant wreck! 
Psalm 23:5 says, "You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." (NIV)  This may be a verse we have heard often, especially if we grew up in the church, but what a beautiful picture it paints of peace and abundance. 
1 Thessalonians 3:12 says, "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you." (NIV)  We must overflow with joy, peace, love.  How can we do that if we are merely surviving the whirlwind of our lives?  We live in an age where it is normal to be doing multiple things at a time, to give only a portion of our attention to any one thing, and to miss out on many of the blessings in our lives! 
God is waiting to fill your cup with blessings so that you may overflow to others.  My hope is that this blog be a place that will help to fill your cup - give you that boost of spiritual coffee, if you will - that you may overflow in your life!